Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. NO IMMUNITY FOR CERTAIN AIRPORT SCREENING METHODS.

No law of the United States shall be construed to confer any immunity for a Federal employee or agency or any individual or entity that receives Federal funds, who subjects an individual to any physical contact (including contact with any clothing the individual is wearing), x-rays, or millimeter waves, or aids in the creation of or views a representation of any part of a individual’s body covered by clothing as a condition for such individual to be in an airport or to fly in an aircraft. The preceding sentence shall apply even if the individual or the individual’s parent, guardian, or any other individual gives consent.

Ron Paul introduced the “American Traveler Dignity Act” (HR 6416) with the following words. (This is a transcript of his actual speech.)

Ron Paul: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise this evening to announce that I introduced some legislation today dealing with the calamity that we have found at our airports with TSA. Something has to be done. Everybody is fed up. The people are fed up, the pilots are fed up, I’m fed up.

You know, I’ve come to this floor many times over the past many years and complained about the terrible foreign policy we’ve had, the terrible monetary policy we’ve had, the excessive spending and the debt and also the tax policy. But what we’re doing and what we’re accepting in putting up with at this airport is so symbolic of us just not standing up and saying, “Enough is enough”.

I know the American people are starting to wake up, but our government, those in charge – Congress as well as the executive branch – are doing nothing. Yes, they’re talking about maybe backing off and allowing the pilots to go through. But can you think how silly the whole thing is? The pilot has a gun in the cockpit, and he’s managing this aircraft, which is a missile, and we make him go through this groping x-ray exercise, having people feeling their underwear. It’s absurd, and it’s time we wake up.

The bill I’ve introduced will take care of this. But we have to realize that the real problem is that the American people have been too submissive, we have been too submissive. It’s been going on for a long time, and this was to be expected even from the beginning of the TSA and it’s deeply flawed. Private property should be protected by private individuals, not bureaucrats.

But the bill that I’ve introduced will take care of it. It’s very simple, it’s one paragraph long. It removes the immunity from anybody in the federal government that does anything that you or I can’t do. If you can’t grope another person and if you can’t x-ray people and endanger them with possible x-rays, you can’t take nude photographs of individuals, why do we allow the government to do it? We would go to jail. He’d be immediately arrested if an individual citizen went out and did these things, and yet we just sit there calmly and say, “Oh, they’re making us safe”.

And, besides, the argument from the executive branch is that when you buy a ticket, you have sacrificed your rights, and it is the duty of the government to make us safe. That isn’t the case. You never have to sacrifice your rights. The duty of the government is to protect our rights, not to abuse them and do what they have been doing to us. The pilots hopefully will be exempted from this.

But another suggestion I have that might help us: let’s make sure that every member of Congress goes through this. Get the x-ray and make them look at the pictures, and then go through one of those groping pat downs. And then I think there will be a difference. Have everybody in the executive branch, anybody who is a cabinet member, make them go through it and look at it. Maybe they would pay more attention.

But this doesn’t work, this is not what makes us safer, this is preposterous to think that the TSA has made us safer.

You know, when you think about it, if you look at what’s happened over the past 10 years, during this last decade, we lost 3000 on a terrible, terrible day for America. But since that time in this last decade, we have also lost 6,000 of our military personnel going over there and trying to rectify this problem. We have lost 400,000 people on our government-run highways. We have lost 150,000 individuals from homicides. So I think there’s reason to be concerned, reason to deal with this problem. We’re not dealing with it the right way, we’re doing the wrong thing, and groping people at the airport doesn’t solve our problems.

What has solved our problems, basically, has been that they put a good lock on the door and they put a gun inside the cockpit. That’s been the greatest boon to our safety. Safety should be the responsibility of the individual and the private property owner. But right now, we assume the government’s always going to take care of us and we’re supposed to sacrifice our liberties. I say that is wrong, we are not safer and we also know there are individuals who are making money of this. Michael Chertoff; I mean, here’s a guy who was the head of the TSA – selling the equipment. And the equipment is questionable; we don’t even know if it works, and it may well be dangerous to our health.

You know, the way I see this; if this doesn’t change, I see what has happened to the American people is we have accepted the notion that we should be treated like cattle. “Make us safe, make us secure, put us into barbed wire, feed us, fatten us up”, and then they’ll eat us. And we’re a bunch of cattle if we have to wait and say, “We’ve had it”. I think this whole idea of an opt-out day is just great. We ought to opt-out and make the point, get somebody to watch it and take a camera, it’s time for the American people to stand up, shrug off the shackles of our government and TSA at the airport.

Ron Paul: Mr. Speaker, today I introduce legislation to protect Americans from physical and emotional abuse by federal Transportation Security Administration employees conducting screenings at the nation’s airports. We have seen the videos of terrified children being grabbed and probed by airport screeners. We have read the stories of Americans being subjected to humiliating body imaging machines and/or forced to have the most intimate parts of their bodies poked and fondled. We do not know the potentially harmful effects of the radiation emitted by the new millimeter wave machines.

In one recent well-publicized case, a TSA official is recorded during an attempted body search saying, “By buying your ticket you gave up a lot of rights.” I strongly disagree and am sure I am not alone in believing that we Americans should never give up our rights in order to travel. As our Declaration of Independence states, our rights are inalienable. This TSA version of our rights looks more like the “rights” granted in the old Soviet Constitutions, where freedoms were granted to Soviet citizens — right up to the moment the state decided to remove those freedoms.

The incident of the so-called “underwear bomber” last Christmas is given as justification for the billions of dollars the federal government is spending on the new full-body imaging machines, but a Government Accountability Office study earlier this year concluded that had these scanners been in use they may not have detected the explosive material that was allegedly brought onto the airplane. Additionally, there have been recent press reports calling into question the accuracy and adequacy of these potentially dangerous machines.

My legislation is simple. It establishes that airport security screeners are not immune from any US law regarding physical contact with another person, making images of another person, or causing physical harm through the use of radiation-emitting machinery on another person. It means they are subject to the same laws as the rest of us.

Imagine if the political elites in our country were forced to endure the same conditions at the airport as business travelers, families, senior citizens, and the rest of us. Perhaps this problem could be quickly resolved if every cabinet secretary, every member of Congress, and every department head in the Obama administration were forced to submit to the same degrading screening process as the people who pay their salaries.

I warned at the time of the creation of the TSA that an unaccountable government entity in control of airport security would provide neither security nor defend our basic freedom to travel. Yet the vast majority of both Republicans and Democrats then in Congress willingly voted to create another unaccountable, bullying agency– in a simple-minded and unprincipled attempt to appease public passion in the wake of 9-11. Sadly, as we see with the steady TSA encroachment on our freedom and dignity, my fears in 2001 were justified.

The solution to the need for security at US airports is not a government bureaucracy. The solution is to allow the private sector, preferably the airlines themselves, to provide for the security of their property. As a recent article in Forbes magazine eloquently stated, “The airlines have enormous sums of money riding on passenger safety, and the notion that a government bureaucracy has better incentives to provide safe travels than airlines with billions of dollars worth of capital and goodwill on the line strains credibility.” In the meantime, I hope we can pass this legislation and protect Americans from harm and humiliation when they choose to travel.

THANK YOU MR. PAUL! Just when I thought that there were no representatives looking out for the interests of the American citizens, and those global travelers daring to visit here, you have been brave enough to initiate change. It will be curious to observe how many others will be brave enough to follow your lead. Although doing the right thing is not always easy or necessarily popular, you, my sir, have indeed restored my hope that there are other "thinking" individuals in positions to direct and challenge the status quo and will hopefully be able to make sure these reasonable initiatives are implemented. Of course, I still wonder at those who were willing to give up their liberties in the first place, to let these "security checks" get to this extreme, but again I hope that you have got the ball rolling and it will indeed change for the better. Again, my sincere thanks for all you are doing and you have my continued support for your efforts.

...written by rebeccahkim , November 19, 2010

I have posted this already here before You guys should stop complaining because, one the health care we have now isnt as good as it was supposed to be. also the law has just been signed so give it some time. so if u want to say u have the right to choose tell that to ur congress men or state official. If you do not have insurance and need one You can find full medical coverage at the lowest price check http://ow.ly/3akSX .If you have health insurance and do not care about cost just be happy about it and believe me you are not going to loose anything!

...written by J Reynolds , November 19, 2010

Put this in perspective. More Americans die per year over a 10 year period by eating peanuts than from terrorism. The government is trying to hype and overhype the threat of terrorism, and in the process, is itself terrorizing the American people. What happened to the land of the free and the home of the brave? Now it is land of the meek and home﻿ of the slave.

...written by Carla Kelly , November 19, 2010

Those who give up their freedom to fly are idiots. This has to stop. Ron Paul is totally right here.

...written by Steve Heath , November 19, 2010

he was also onme of just 5 republicans to vote against HB 3808 last week -another bailout bill for the Banksters. Dr. paul doesn't care what the big money lobbyists think. He's onto those who want to scare us all into giving up our freedom and liberty. I wish the rest of the Republicans were more like him

...written by BrianS , November 19, 2010

I could not agree more.

...written by R McDowell , November 19, 2010

Mr Paul is completely right about TSA, but will continue to be the lone voice in the wilderness until we jettison the Republicrat political "duopoly". Together they are driving us further and further from our principles of individual liberty and self-determination.

We need to take a page from El Al and employ trained interviewers to screen passengers. We could use the thousands of extra troops we have occupying Japan & other developed nations and convert those jobs & funds for the purpose.

I get the feeling that the humiliation of our screenings is serving a political purpose.

...written by Luther Houston , November 19, 2010

Ron Paul is right on this one.

...written by Sharon , November 19, 2010

Your words made me stand up and applaud and I was sitting at my computer at home. Your common sense and perspective was so refreshing. There is no way the TSA inspections are constitutional. My expectation of bodily privacy does not change based on where I am physically - my house, a park, a airport. No one has the authority to place their hands on me. The end.

...written by Ben Jones , November 19, 2010

I am a veteran of the Iraq war. I worked at a detention facility, where I used the same search techniques on Iraqi detainees for in-processing. How could I have imagined that I would return to a country where my family members and myself can be strip searched and/or prison frisked as a prerequisite for travel? My God. How could we let this happen?

...written by R. Baughman , November 19, 2010

Thank you Ron Paul - thank you for standing up for us!! I wish more people would see that we, Americans, are losing our rights! Too many idiots in office!!

...written by Pastor Lorenzana , November 19, 2010

We need more people like you Mr Paul we will have you in our prayers so God could use you and make a difference in our government.

Land of the free and home of the brave.

...written by dpetersTX , November 19, 2010

Ron Paul is a modern day Thomas Jefferson, yet the media and his peers treat him like he is invisible. He is right about everything and is the only man who can save this country from destruction. Ron Paul 2012!!!!

...written by Common Sense , November 19, 2010

Thank you Ron.

For those on the side of invasive searching of innocent people, why stop at airports? We could have scanners at schools, librarys, buildings work. We could just do strip searches and save the money on the machines as well...

...written by evad1089 , November 20, 2010

Where to people work who can't get a real job.

TSA

...written by furrpiece , November 20, 2010

The Gold Standard Model for airline security and fighting terrorism is the system used by the Israelis.

They don't sexually assault children and the elderly, yet they keep terrorists off of their aircraft by using a sophisticated combination of searing luggage, interviewing each passengers, profiling for terrorists, and random checks.

Yet, in this country, the moronic thugs at TSA are killing the airline industry, and causing more and more people to drive, take a train, or not travel.

The sorry excuse for a President, Barack Obama, and his puppeteer, George Soros, couldn't do a better job of killing our economy if they tried.

Can't believe I'm agreeing with Ron Paul, but I am. THANK YOU Mr. Paul for saying what I'm thinking. Enough is enough! Please don't let the furor over this die down until it leads to action

...written by Joe D , November 21, 2010

Thank you Ron Paul . and if they dont pass a law to protect us from the TSA Can i offer a suggestion . THE CAPITOL IS ALSO IN DANGER TO SHOW THE AMERICAN PEOPLE THAT THIS IS NOT DANGEROUS AND THE PAT DOWNS ARE OK , CAN THEY INSTALL THIS MACHINES AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE CAPITOL AND ALSO HAVE EVERYBODY THAT GOES INTO THE CAPITOL GO THRU A PAT DOWN . THIS WILL SHOW THE AMERICAN PEOPLE THAT IS OK .I WANT TO SEE THEM GOING TO THESE NON DANGEROUS RADIATION EVERYDAY . SHOW US ...

...written by mo , November 23, 2010

I cant believe anyone would disagree with Ron Paul. What in the world would you disagree about. Ron Paul has told the truth in every issue that we face. He is the ONLY one that has stood upand spoken the truth for over 30 years. HE has never changed his views, because that's the views of the Constitution, you know the document that we are all supposed to follow, but no one does. Why more people do not see his clear and simple message(everytime he speaks on any matter)is so beyond me. He needs to be our leader to get this country back to being free and great. RON PAUL 2012, 2016,2020!!!